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iPhone Setup

This page provides Zello setup instructioins for iPhones. Instructions for Android phones are HERE.

In this article: Section 1: User Acount Tasks Installing Zello Creating a new account Logging into an existing account Accessing the Main Menu screen Doing an Echo sound test Changing account profile settings Adding Contacts Searching for contacts Using the Address Book to add contacts Scanning a QR code to add contacts Section 2: Channel Tasks Adding channels to the Channels list Searching for channels to add Scanning QR codes to add channels Talking in a channel  Using Solo Mode Muting a channel Watch Captain Tasks Creating your own channel Inviting contacts to your channel

ZELLO ICONS

The following icons are used throughout the Zello user interface. This legend explains each icon's meaning:

Section 1: User Account Tasks

Installing Zello

To install Zello, go to the iTunes App Store on your iPhone, iPod, or iPad and search for Zello. Tap GET to begin the installation. Tap OPEN to open the Zello app. After installing, the Zello "Z" icon badge appears on your home screen. You can tap the badge to launch Zello. You're on your way enjoying live conversations!

You can use Zello to communicate with your friends who also have Zello installed on their Android, iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, or Windows PC.

Creating a new account

If this is your first time using Zello, follow these steps to create a new Zello account.

From the Welcome to Zello screen:

1. Tap Sign up
2. Enter your desired username, password, email, and optional phone number. Usernames must be at least 5 characters long, use Latin characters, and unique. Please note that a username cannot be changed afterwards. Your email and phone number will be kept private, and we will not email or phone you. The email is used to retrieve usernames and reset passwords. Also, your Zello contacts can search for you by using your email or phone number.
3. Tap Sign up.

Your account is created, and you’re ready to start talking or continue adding information to your account profile. If you’d rather complete the account profile details at a later time, tap Skip this, I’ll do it later.

Logging into an existing account

If you’ve created a Zello account on another device or platform, tap Log in on the Welcome to Zello screen and follow the prompts to log in. 

 

If you forgot your password or username, do the following:

From the Welcome to Zello screen:

1. Tap blue Forgot? prompt
2. Enter the email associated with your Zello account. You’ll receive an email with instructions and your Zello username(s)
3. Go to your email app to look for the email from Zello. Also, check your junk or spam folders
4. Click the link on the email to reset your password
5. Enter the new password twice.

Now you're all set with your new password.

Accessing the Main Menu Screen

The Main Menu screen is Zello Central. You can access and manage all the options in Zello from the Main Menu. The Menu icon is represented by 3 horizontal lines. Tap on the icon to go the Main Menu from any screen. You can also use your finger to swipe between screens in Zello. For example, swipe the screen to go to and from the Main Menu to another screen within Zello. Recent screens visited are displayed in the far right column. Tap on any to return to that screen. Tap on the Speaker option to adjust the volume and select the audio output device.

 

Doing an Echo sound test

Tap Contacts from the Main Menu. From here you can add contacts or tap echo to do a sound test.

Do this sound test to confirm others can hear you. Tap the contact named echo and then press and hold the big orange talk button until the circle turns solid red, which indicates you are transmitting. Say anything, sing a song, or tell a story. Let go of the talk button to play back what you just recorded. The circle will be solid green when playing back. If you can’t hear anything, verify your microphone is on and turned up to a comfortable volume. Also, make sure you’ve granted Zello access to the microphone in your phone’s Settings.

Changing account profile settings

Want to make changes to your user account profile? On the Main Menu, tap your profile picture at the top left corner to open the account profile.

Tap anywhere within the picture frame to display the camera icon to add, change, or delete the profile picture.

You can create an alias name to display instead of your username by filling in the Name field. The alias can be changed at any time. Fill in the other fields as desired and/or record an audio introduction for yourself.

Adding contacts

Now add contacts to fill up your Contacts page. Tap the Add icon (+) at the lower right corner of the screen to add a contact.

You have three ways to add a contact:

1. Search for Zello contacts
2. Address book 
3. QR Code Scanner

 

Searching for contacts

Search for current Zello users to add to your Contacts list. Enter their Zello username, email, or phone number in the search bar and tap the Search button. If the user is not found, you can send an invite by email or text message:

If the user has a Zello account, it will appear in the search results. Tap the username and the contact's account profile is displayed. Tap Add at the upper right of the contact's account profile. Zello will then send a connection request to the user.

Using the Address Book to add contacts

You can also use your Address Book to add contacts:

1. From the Main Menu, select Contacts
2. Select “+”to add a contact
3. Tap Address Book to access your contacts
4. Select the contacts you want to invite or add to your Contacts list
5. Tap Done at upper right corner.

For contacts who don’t have a recognized Zello account, an email message appears with all the information filled in for you. Edit the email if you’d like and then tap Send to send the email invitation.

For contacts who have Zello accounts, Zello sends a connection request. As soon as they go online, they will see a contact request at the top of their Contacts list marked by a gray circle with a question mark and “Requesting authorization” notice. When selected, the contact will be presented with options to Accept, decline Not now, or to permanently Block your connection request. If they accept your request, they will appear in your Contacts list with a status of Available or Busy.

Scanning a QR code to add contacts

Scanning another user’s QR code is the fastest way to add contacts:

1. From the Main Menu, select Contacts
2. Select “+” to add a contact
3. Select Scan QR code
4. Focus the scanner on the QR code of the contact you want to add until in focus and voila!, the contact will be added.

For additional User Account Tasks, go to the Zello User Guide on the Zello Website

Section 2: Channel Tasks

You can use Zello to talk to your friends and family privately with group conversations as described previously, or join one of many public or private Zello channels. Channels are live talk forums created and moderated by other Zello users. There are tens of thousands of Zello channels to choose from. But if you can't find a channel you're interested in joining, just create your own!

Adding channels to the Channels list

You can add channels in two ways: You can add existing channels by searching by name, keywords, or by scanning the channel's QR code as described below:

Searching for channels to add

You can talk with people from around the world or locally, in groups of up to 3500, by joining an existing channel. Follow these steps to find and join a channel that interests you.

From the Main Menu, select Channels.

1. Tap "+" at the bottom right corner
2. Tap Find a channel
3. Type in keywords or the name of a channel in the Search field and tap Search. Use “All Pkb/WC Neighborhood Watch” which is the common channel for the entire Neighborhood Watch Co-op. All members should have this channel. Watch Captians should create a separate channel for their own Watch Group.
4. Select the channel(s) you are interested in adding
5. On the channel's profile screen, tap Add at the upper right corner to add the channel to your Channel list
6. The channel talk screen will display, where you can connect to the channel and begin talking

Scanning QR codes to add channels

Scan this QR Code for Zello Channel “All Pkb/WC Neighborhood Watch”

The fastest way to add a channel is by scanning the channel's QR code, which is located at the bottom right of the channel profile picture. Once displayed, Zello users next to you can add your channel by going to their Channels screen:

1. From the Main Menu, select Channels
2. Tap "+" at the bottom right corner
3. Select Scan QR code
4. Focus the green scanner square directly on the QR code to add the channel.

You can also send the QR code by making a screenshot of it or print it out so remote Zello users can scan it.

 

Talking in a channel

To talk in the channel, tap on the channel name from the Channels list. Make sure you are connected (power icon is blue) and then push and hold the talk button until solid red to talk. Release when done talking. As long as no one else is trying to talk, you can talk away without interruption. If others are trying to talk, the talk time before interruption is set by the owner in the channel profile (from 1 second to 10 minutes). Do not press the talk button rapidly without speaking, or you will receive an error message indicating too many empty messages have been sent.

 

Using Solo Mode

When you’re connected to multiple channels, you'll hear every conversation for all active channels. This can become very confusing if messages from multiple channels are transmitted at the same time. To listen and talk in one channel without interruptions, do the following.

1. Tap the name of the channel in the Channel list. The talk screen will display
2. At the bottom, toggle the Status until you see the blue Solo status
3. You can also go to the Main Menu and change the Status to Solo from there.

Muting a channel

You can also selectively mute channels from the talk screen by tapping the gray Pull-down arrow to the right of the channel profile picture.

If you want to mute all channels and contacts, you should change your Status to Busy. However, if you only want specific channels to be muted, tap the Pull-down menu on the channel's talk screen and select the Mute channel option. All missed messages will be sent to the channel’s History and can be replayed at a later time. “All Pkb/WC Neighborhood Watch” should never be muted as it will be used to send emergency notifications to all members.

Watch Captain Tasks

Creating your own channel

You should create your own channel for your Watch Group. Once created, you become the “owner” of the channel. Contacts who join your channel are “subscribers”. The number of subscribers allowed per channel is unlimited, but there is a maximum of 3500 who can be online and active at any given time. Channels are permanent until deleted by the owner.  For more information about Channels, see Channel Quick Start Guide.

Follow these steps to create your channel.

1. From the Main Menu, select Channels
2. Tap "+" sign at the lower right corner
3. Tap Create channel

Fill out fields and select settings for your channel profile. All settings can be changed at any time by the owner. A subset of settings can be changed by admins. Key settings are described below. Fields marked “NR” are not recommended for your Neighborhood Watch channels.

1. Name: Enter a name for the channel (required). This should be your Watch Group name.
2. Description: Enter a description of the channel. If you want to make it easier for people to find your channel and stay on topic, ensure the description explains the topic of the channel and includes related keywords
3. Premium Channel: Indicate if the channel will be a paid Premium channel (NR)
4. Voice intro: Add a voice intro for new subscribers to hear
5. Channel alerts: Turn on/off channel alerts for subscribers
6. Type: This is your channel type. This setting is important, as it determines how public or private your channel will be.  Although it is the least private type, we suggest you use OPEN, as it is the least confusing for the members of your Watch Group. For information on the 4 channel types, see FAQ for Channel Types
7. 18+: You can mark your channel as 18+ (content not suitable for kids). (NR)
8. Allow voting: Allow subscribers to vote thumbs up or down for other user's messages (NR)
9. Require verified email: Turn this On for added security and subscriber verification
10. Require verified phone number: Turn this On for added security and subscriber verification
11. Require password: Turn this On for added privacy, so unauthorized users cannot join or listen (NR as this may be too confusing for your Watch Group members)

Fill out other settings as needed. Not all fields are required, and fields can be edited at a later time.

Happy with your channel settings? Tap Save at upper right corner and start inviting contacts to your new channel.

Inviting contacts to your channel

To invite existing Zello contacts or share a channel with non-Zello users:

1. From the channel talk screen, select History (white chat balloon)
2. Select Users at bottom
3. Tap Invite or Share icon at the bottom

There is also a QR code located at the lower right corner of the channel profile picture which can be sent to other Zello users and scanned in to join the channel

For additional functions and options, see the Zello User Guide.